Qantas aircraft makes emergency landing in Philippines after blast leaves hole in fuselage

The passengers will be given hotel accommodation while the aircraft is being repaired

They can't rebook the passengers on other airlines -- or send another airplane to replace the damaged one?

What a scary experience that must have been.

So what caused the 'blast'? Are we talking about a bomb in the cargo hold here?

We are probably talking about a faulty door seal on one of the cargo bays. So much for the safest airline in the world? For Qantas, this is a major event. Wonder how the press will play this back in Australia, with the current management of Qantas first looking to buyout the airline and taking it private, and then complaining about maintenance costs and threatening to export jobs wholesale to countries with a debateable airline safety maintenance record such as Malaysia. All in all, this little event will probably go ballistic back in Australia.

The flight originated in London. The explosion occured an hour into the flight but the incident occured over the South China Sea? Did it have an intermediate stop somewhere or did I miss something?

The article says less than two hours after take of from HK. Could be they edited the article after you posted that - it seems quite altered from the first time I read it.

USNinJapan2 - the first line says the flight was via HKG, so one hour into the Hong Kong - Melbourne sector.

Similar event happened years ago with a UA 747 out of Hawaii, except on that flight some passengers were sucked out.

wanderlust: you're confusing two different incidents, one many years ago with an Aloha 737 that lost most of its roof due to depressurization caused by a faulty cargo door, and the other about ten years ago with a UA 747 that hit an air pocket en route to Hawaii

you're probably thinking of the former

these people are truly lucky to be around, though i'm not sure they'll be wanting to fly again anytime soon

QANTAS: The only major airline in the world to have never had a fatal accident. Go Aussie!

But when this kind of thing happens, you have to start worrying. A bit too much cost cutting going on perhaps?

Bovinus

That is a myth. Qantas has never lost a jet airliner but they have definitely had their share of fatalities.

Bovinus

From Wiki: "It is often claimed, most notably in the 1988 movie Rain Man, that Qantas has never had a fatal accident.[74] This statement only relates to the fact that the company has never lost a jet airliner. Between 1927 and 1951, Qantas had eight fatal accidents with the loss of 62 people."

First of all the hole is only about 4x3 feet if the hole was 2x4m the aircraft would have sustained more damage and MIGHT have crashed... Second the cargo door is not the problem the fairing that covers the wing to fuse maryup is what is missing making the "hole" look a lot bigger than it really is. Third to "blast" is the sound of rapid decompression just moving air that is all if it was a "bomb" you would have a much bigger problem to worry about.

plasticmonkey - thanks for the correction - it was the Aloha one I was thinking of...

When it was first reported here (in Aus) they said the hole was caused by a strong & sudden gust of wind...? But the event hasn't gone 'ballistic' as suggested by timorborder